The illustration comes from The History of Reynard the Fox. In this 15th century woodcut, we see Tybert the Cat castrating a village priest. Incidentally, “Tybert” is spelled in two other ways, namely ‘Tibert’ and ‘Tybalt’. Unusually, there is absolutely … Continue reading →
In a famous Indian fable in the Panchatantra, an ancient collection of animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose from 200 BCE-300CE, the domestic cat is portrayed as sly, underhand and hypocritical. The fable which I describe below is immortalised … Continue reading →
This is a topic that interests me: how artists of the mediaeval era depicted domestic cats in their paintings. And I’m sure that they felt that they were painting an accurate representation of the domestic cat before them. But by … Continue reading →
It is sad and telling of modern life that the famous place where the first wildcats were domesticated by farmers, the Fertile Crescent, which encompasses Syria and the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, is now a place where there are no … Continue reading →
First things first, there is a difference between cat-haters and ailurophobes. The latter have a fear of cats which might lead them to hate them but it might not. The former genuinely detest cats for whatever reason. The reason for … Continue reading →
It seems that “scaredy-cat” first appeared in print as “fraidie-cat” (fraidy-cat). The two sayings having very similar meanings. And they’re both based on the fact that domestic cats are often frightened of strangers. A person is described as a scaredy-cat … Continue reading →
Yes, there is a common ancestor to the cat and dog. If you believe in evolution as set out by Charles Darwin in his work “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection…” you will believe that there … Continue reading →
The photograph is described as ‘Tinder 1913’. There are four guys in the snow outside a log cabin. Two of the men are holding cats, one has a dog and the fourth does not have an animal companion. The sign … Continue reading →
The question is about the etymology of the word ‘lion’. My research informs me that the word is derived from the Latin ‘leo’ and Ancient Greek ‘leon’. Leon is also a first name for people of Greek origin since ancient … Continue reading →
The public should know that the genius Mozart liked to imitate domestic cats when he was bored. And it appears that he was bored quite a lot because he was so intelligent. I think intelligence begets boredom. That fact that … Continue reading →
